Are you a goal oriented person? If you are, then you probably know that all successful people in life know the basics of setting and achieving their goals. If you want to achieve a healthy life, then setting fitness goals should be no different than anything else you do.

Setting fitness goals gives you motivation and drives you for the short or long term success. Goal setting helps you obtain the knowledge necessary to achieve. If you plan and organize your time to exercise and eat the right meals, you’ll get the best out of your efforts.

Setting clearly defined fitness goals will also measure progress and provide accountability. Holding yourself accountable will help you through the challenging days (such as ordering pizza at work). Your self-confidence will sky rocket as you learn more about your capabilities.

The first thing you need to do when setting fitness goals is to have a vision of where you want to be a month from now or a year from now. Your vision of yourself must be clearly defined. For example, a good short term goal would be “I want to loose 8 lbs in one month”. Then break down your goal into smaller targets so you can easily hold yourself accountable to complete it.

When using this weight loss example: you want to set weekly goals for that month to loose 2 lbs a week. Then write down the steps necessary to loose 2 lbs a week. Use these steps as your plan to success.

Having a good attitude has a big impact on setting and achieving your goals. You must be realistic with yourself and think about anything that would hold you back from loosing weight.

Realize any behavior challenges you may have ahead of time. It will give you a mindset to attack any issues you may encounter during your path to success. For example, if you love go out to eat with co workers, try to plan your order ahead of time so you eat clean and healthy for that meal.

Leading a healthy lifestyle is for the most part dependent on your time management skills. Most people fail because they often have bad time management skills and lack of persistence. Planning your work outs and meals ahead of time will decide success or failure.

Your family should never be left out of your plans. Do not to put your family aside. If you plan your workouts during family obligations you are setting yourself up for failure. Find out what time blocks you can control (such as waking up earlier) and use that time to plan your work outs.

I’m sure someone said, “A life filled with work really stinks”, or something like that, is very true. Take advantage of life’s pleasures: set up a cheat day once a week to eat what ever you want. Having a day with no rules provides the mental break needed to continue with your fitness objectives.

Create a fitness-to-do list for the day. Write down at least three things you want to do that will help you continue your new fitness lifestyle. This will help you set the tone for the day. In my opinion writing down your fitness objectives provides a mental agreement with yourself to complete those objectives.

Once you learn the basics of setting your fitness goals, you will be able to effectively lead a life of health and fitness. It will be more realistic to you and you’ll soon be an expert on achieving your goal of leading a healthy life filled with a new found energy that you will love.